UCLA wins College World Series for the first time

Jun. 26, 2013
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UCLA shortstop Pat Valaika (10) hits an RBI-single to score third baseman Kevin Kramer (not pictured) on Tuesday during the third inning in game 2 of the College World Series finals against Mississippi State Bulldogs at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. / Bruce Thorson, USA TODAY Sports

by Steve Wieberg, Special for USA TODAY Sports

by Steve Wieberg, Special for USA TODAY Sports

OMAHA ‚?? Back home, sluggers are slumping and pitchers are scuffling as Los Angeles' two big-league franchises languish in last and next-to-last place in their respective divisions despite combined player payrolls of almost $350 million.

Turns out, scholarships work.

UCLA completed an unblemished, 10-game run through college baseball's postseason Tuesday night, rolling past Mississippi State 8-0 to win the College World Series and the first national championship in the program's 94-year history.

Junior right-hander Nick Vander Tuig scattered five hits in eight innings, the latest in a succession of exceptional pitching performances as Bruins (49-17) completed a two-game sweep of MSU in the best-of-three championship finals. And while UCLA did some of its typical hunting and pecking on offense ‚?? bunts were prominent in two rallies, hit batsmen in a couple ‚?? the Bruins had their most productive night by far in five Series games.

The Bruins' run total approached the 11 they'd scratched out in their first four games in Omaha.

"It's one of those situations where it was our time, I think," coach John Savage said.

"We have good players. I've said that all season long. They started believing, and they started using the whole field. And fortunately, we had some hits tonight."

So dominant was his team's pitching during a 10-day stay that a first-inning run against Mississippi State was formidable, a 3-0 lead by the third looked all but insurmountable, and a five-run spread by the end of the fourth left a record crowd of 27,127 in TD Ameritrade Park wiling away the rest of a warm night until the trophy presentation.

A trio of blondes provided some diversion in the top of the ninth, running onto the field before the young women were easily run down by stadium personnel.

Six different UCLA pitchers allowed a total of four runs in the five games, holding opposing hitters to a .175 average. Every starter won ‚?? Vander Tuig and ace right-hander Adam Plutko twice ‚?? and the staff earned-run average of 0.80 in the Series was the lowest in college baseball's aluminum bat era, which began in 1974.

Plutko, who threw six four-hit innings and allowed a single run in a 3-1 win against Mississippi State a night earlier, was named the Series' Most Outstanding Player. Vander Tuig, picked in the sixth round of this month's major-league draft by San Francisco, mirrored him, walking just one and striking out six Tuesday in raising his season record to 14-4.

His approach: "Just ‚?¶ keep things simple, just not think, 'Oh, this is a big game,' " Vander Tuig said. "It's like every other game. I just have to be myself and make pitches and execute."

The lopsided score notwithstanding, Savage let All-America closer David Berg wrap it up, and the 6-foot sophomore threw a 1-2-3 ninth. It was his NCAA record-tying 51st appearance of the season, and he was on the mound at the end of each of the Series victories.

Against that kind of pitching, Mississippi State (51-20) had little margin for error. But it lent the Bruins help, and quickly.

Carroll, leading off in the bottom of the first, took a pitch to his knee. Kevin Kramer laid down an unremarkable bunt that MSU pitcher Luis Pollorena fumbled. Then, first baseman Wes Rea couldn't handle his hurried throw.

Filia drove Carroll home with a line-drive out to right.

Filia's squeeze bunt and Valaika's run-scoring single made it 3-0 in the third, and the Bruins added two more runs in the fourth ‚?? Kevin Williams scoring after being hit by a pitch ‚?? and another in the sixth. A team that specialized earlier throughout the Series in taut, low-scoring games gave its nerves a final-night rest.

"We knocked on the door," Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. "UCLA has knocked on the door before, several times, and they knocked down the door and we didn't do that."

"I don't think any of the experts thought we'd be here, at this stage," Savage said. "We did it. We did it the right way; we played baseball. Good baseball. We pitched. We defended. We had quality offense ‚?? opportunistic offense for sure. And at the end of the day, I think we outlasted everybody."